


Don't Leave Me

by tonystarksass



Series: Pepperony Week 2014 [1]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/M, Gunshot Wounds, Hostage Situations, Hurt/Comfort, Major Character Injury, Pepperony Week, Post-Iron Man 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-15
Updated: 2014-06-15
Packaged: 2018-02-04 19:25:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1790461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tonystarksass/pseuds/tonystarksass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A press conference gone wrong; Tony, Pepper, and Rhodey find themselves staring down the barrel of a loaded pistol.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Leave Me

**Author's Note:**

> Day 1 (Theme: Injury/Hurt) of Pepperony Week! 
> 
> Takes place post-Iron Man 3! 
> 
> **Edit:** Slightly revamped/revised, September 2017.

The press conference had gone smoothly up to this point. The reporters were behaving, Tony was behaving, Pepper and Rhodey were professional, as always. The conference had been called in reference to the events caused by Aldrich Killian and his manifestation of the Mandarin. 

The trio had crossed off a good majority of items they’d wanted to touch upon: the future of Stark Industries, the future of Tony and Rhodey’s relationship with the Iron Man suits, and the future of Tony and Pepper’s relationship, in general. That was a continuous hot-topic for the media and Tony proudly deemed them “stable, happy, and one-hundred percent dedicated to each other.” Pepper agreed. 

Thankfully, the media hadn’t caught wind of Pepper being injected with the extremis serum. Tony, along with some assistance from Bruce, had formulated a system to safely extract it from her, but she was still recovering from the process. 

Tony, standing at the podium with Pepper to his right and Rhodey to his left, finished off a question about potential new designs for the Iron Man suits and gestured for another question. 

A man rose from his seat about three rows back, seemingly to ask his question, but instead, quickly pulled a pistol from the back waistband of his pants and started waving it around frantically. Once the image registered, screams echoed through the conference room.

The man continued to carelessly wave his, assumingly loaded, gun around, pointing it at random people, reporters, and bystanders and spewing hate-filled comments at them before growing bored.

“Everybody out!” he barked suddenly, “Not you three!” He pointed his gun individually at Tony, Pepper, and Rhodey before herding the reporters out like cattle while threatening to shoot anyone who didn’t oblige

Tony felt Pepper’s hand slide into his own and he looked over at her, giving her a reassuring glance. She squeezed his hand in response. 

The man returned to the room shortly after, locking the doors behind him. He whistled up at the trio, pointing his gun at them. “Hey, lovebirds! Get the hell down here. You too, Rhodes.”

Tony flashed Rhodey a look before the three of them carefully walked off the raised platform and down the steps. 

“Middle of the room,” the man told them, keeping the gun pointed squarely at them as they moved. “And don’t you _dare_ call one of your precious Iron Man suits to save you!”

Tony scrunched his eyebrows, sizing the guy up. He was shorter than he was and pretty scrawny, his movements were jumpy and unsure. Obviously in way over his head.

“Now, don’t make any sudden moves, you two,” the man pointed his gun at Tony and Rhodey, respectively. “Or I’ll be forced to shoot Stark’s girl here. And what a shame that would be.” Tony clinched his jaw as the man drew closer to Pepper. “She is _very_ beautiful, after all,” the guy murmured before smacking Tony and Pepper’s hands apart. Pepper jumped.

“You’re going to make me sick,” he spat as he turned back around, holding his gun close to his chest. He mumbled incoherent words under his breath, scratched his temple with the end of gun. Yelled out, occasionally.

“Look,” Tony started smoothly, watching the guy's every movement. He ran through every situation of what he could possibly do next, not giving him the benefit of the doubt. “What do you want? Money? Cars? A decent therapy session, maybe? I got connections.”

“Shut up!” The guy snapped and thrashed his gun about, his anger obviously rising. “Y—You took everything from me.”

“Okay, fair enough. What exactly did I take from you?” Tony asked, glancing over at Rhodey. His face was set and, by the looks of it, was going to rip this guy’s head off the first chance he got.

“Killian,” the man murmured, stepping forward suddenly and pressed the front of the gun against Tony’s forehead. Pepper gasped. “Easy,” Rhodey spoke up, “No one has to get hurt, man.”

“Oh, I think someone has to pay,” the man spat, pressing the gun harder into Tony's skin. “Hey, hey. What did you want with Killian, huh? Talk to me,” Tony said, glancing at Pepper through his peripheral vision. Her face was set too. He'd hate to be at the receiving end of that glare.

The man tsked and backed away from Tony, pulling his gun with him. “He was going to fix me. Make me stronger, unstoppable—”

“What, through extremis?” Tony interrupted, “You know, that stuff’s not as good as he made it out to be, trust me. Really faulty.”

“Bull _shit_. You took away the only chance I had, you son of a bitch!” the man shouted at Tony, holding the gun up shakily at him, again. Tony raised up both his arms to simulate defeat, “Hey, come on. What’s shooting me going to accomplish?” 

A sense of clarity seemed to dawn on the man, “You know, you’re _absolutely_ right. Word on the street is that you didn't even kill him, _Iron Man_.”

The next few moments played out in slow motion. Physics be damned. The gun was suddenly pointed at Pepper. The man pulled the trigger, an earsplitting blast echoed throughout the room.

Pepper didn’t have time to react as Tony used his body as some sort of a twisted form of a human shield, jumping in-between her and the oncoming bullet. Somehow, managing to push her out of harm's way. But, he was too slow to completely evade the bullet’s trajectory. It nicked his shoulder, taking him down immediately.

Rhodey moved quickly, tackling the bewildered gunman to the ground before throwing a couple _hard_ right hooks to the side of the man’s face, knocking him out. He huffed and stood, kicking the gun away from the guy's hand.

Pepper, dazed from the force of Tony slamming into her, pulled herself off the floor. She looked over at Tony's slumped figure and her heart dropped. "Tony?" He wasn't moving and blood was beginning to pool around him—his shoulder, somewhere.

“Tony!” Pepper yelled, crawling over to him. He was laying on his side, injured shoulder pressed into the ground. Gently, she turned him over to lay on his back; his eyes were open, but hazy. 

“Tony, hey! Look at me!” She pressed two fingers to his neck, thankfully finding his pulse. “Rhodey!" Pepper shouted over her shoulder, "Tony’s been shot!”

“Shit! Okay, put pressure directly on the wound, okay? I’ll be right there,” Rhodey responded, securing the knocked-out shooter before running over toward Tony and Pepper.

Pepper ripped off her white jacket and quickly tied it around Tony’s upper arm. She unintentionally jostled him around in the process and her heart sank when he groaned. Pressing down on his wound, her jacket was immediately stained with the red of Tony’s blood. 

There was _so much_ of it. More than Pepper had _ever_ seen. Her hands were soaked with the warm and sticky substance. Her stomach twisted and she managed to utter, “James—" 

“Let me," Rhodey murmured, kneeling down, and pulling Pepper’s shaky hands away from Tony’s wound, replacing them with his own. “Call an ambulance!”

Pepper pulled her phone from the clutch she’d discarded and quickly dialed nine-one-one, frantically shouting the dire sensitivity of the situation, along with their address, at the dispatcher. After being reassured that an ambulance was on its way, Pepper hung up and moved to Tony's other side, holding onto his hand.

“Tony—Tony, honey, I’m here,” Pepper whispered, her vision clouded with unshed tears. She refused to lose Tony like this.

“Hey, Pep,” Tony murmured weakly, opening his eyes for a moment before they started to flutter shut again.

“Tony, don’t you dare leave me!” Pepper commanded, squeezing his hand. “Open your eyes!”

Tony did so. He could never say no to Pepper. He groaned lowly as Rhodey pushed harder on his shoulder. “Hang in there, man,” Rhodey told him, hearing the faint sound of a siren over the pounding in his ears. They were close.

Pepper’s other hand flew to Tony’s hair, pushing his bangs back out of his eyes. “Just keep your eyes on me, okay, Tony?”

“I-I love you,” Tony rasped, squeezing her hand as best he could. It was weak, Pepper barely felt it.

“Dammit, I love you too, Tony," Pepper sobbed, tears cascading down her cheeks and falling onto Tony’s shirt. His eyes slipped closed again. He felt so damn _tired_. 

“Tony! Don’t do that! Don’t leave me!” Pepper shouted, cupping his cheek. "Rhodey, do something!" Pepper leaned down and pressed her forehead against Tony’s, “I love you, Tony Stark,” she said softly as the shouts of paramedics filled her ears.

—

Two and a half weeks and one minor surgery later, Tony and Pepper were back at home.

Thanks to the quick efforts of Pepper, Rhodey, and the paramedics, Tony made a quick recovery. Quicker than the doctor's would've liked, but it was Tony. He couldn’t stand hospitals, much less staying in them.

The man who’d shot him was behind bars and awaiting trial, Pepper made sure of that. Unregistered weapon, public endangerment, attempted murder, the works.

The bullet had only grazed Tony’s shoulder. In and out, cleanly. But, he was still on bed rest with no heavy lifting or extensive movement for the next few weeks. He also had to wear a sling, which he was not a fan of. Though, Pepper had promised Tony's doctor that she would personally make sure he fully followed the recommendations.

Currently, Tony and Pepper were curled against each other on the bed of their hotel room. Their Malibu mansion was still in the process of being rebuilt from scratch, but Pepper didn’t mind the inconvenience of temporarily staying in a downtown hotel. They were designing a house _together_. 

They’d been watching a movie, but were increasingly more interested in each other, Pepper having moved to straddle Tony, than the television screen. During one of their numerous kissing breaks, Pepper pulled back and just looked at Tony. One of her hands ran through his soft hair, nails gently scratching at his scalp. She wiggled her hips and grinned as he groaned lowly. 

It was still unbelievable to her that he’d _literally_ stepped in front of a bullet for her. Saved her life. 

“Tony?” Pepper whispered and he hummed in acknowledgement, “Thank you.” 

He tilted his head and looked up into her eyes, a small half-smile quirked at the corner of his mouth. Pepper had the sudden urge to kiss it away.

"For what? Watching the movie you wanted to watch?” Tony teased, smirking. 

Pepper grinned, running her thumb across his bottom lip. “Well, yes. But also, you know, for saving me.”

Tony shrugged with his good shoulder, “I didn’t even have to think about it, Pep. Easy decision. I'd do it all again exactly the same way.” He eyed her, "I can’t live without you, remember?”

“How could I forget?” Pepper smiled widely, leaning in to capture his lips as the rest of the movie was quickly forgotten.


End file.
